ATDTDA (17): Tortoni's (465.5)

[Tim Strzechowski]

"... Frank began to fall back into the old habits of squandering time and money, until one night, making his way along Arapahoe somewhere between Tortoni's and Bill Jones's, where he heard he'd been declared an honorary Negro ..." (p. 465).


Back in the nineties when gold mining was the principal industry in Colorado, a group of pioneer giants in industry, comprising the Colorado Mining Stock Exchange, purchased the ground then described as "Lots 1, 2, 3 & 4, East Denver" for $160,000. On this ground, now at 15th and Arapahoe Streets, was erected in 1890 and 1891, the Mining Exchange Building, on top of which stands the statue of the old prospector, pick in one hand and gold brick in the other, master of all he surveys. He has stood guard over the surrounding area for all these 70 years, a forgotten man, representing an almost forgotten industry––gold mining––in the state of Colorado. This splendid old building is now the home of the Mining Record, one of the oldest mining weeklies in this country.

Subscribers to the fund for the cost of the building were such men as John Evans, first governor of Colorado; C.B. Kountze, prominent banker and founder of the present Colorado National Bank; Henry C. Brown, who built the Brown Palace Hotel, and W.N. Byers, owner and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News. Other prominent and successful citizens of those early days who participated in the activities were David H. Moffat, Banker and builder of the Moffat Railroad; J.W. Nessmith, president, Colorado Iron Works; Walter S. Cheesman, capitalist; DennisSheedy, president, Denver Dry Goods Co.,; H.A.W. Tabor; John Harvey of Leadville, and D.R.C. Brown of Aspen. With the cooperation of this group, the Mining Exchange Building was financed, erected, and opened with much publicity at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1891.

[...]

These men gathered for lunch to discuss the mining events of the day at different old–time restaurants like Hurlburt's Dairy Lunch, The Home Dairy, Tortoni's and the Manhattan. Out of these informal gatherings grew the Denver Mining Club. Early in its history luncheons were held at the Daniels and Fisher Tearoom, the Edelweiss and the Denver Chamber of Commercer Restaurant. About 20 years ago, the Club moved to the Denver Dry Goods Tea Room for its luncheons held there every Wednesday. Average attendance is about 50 members and guests. [...]

http://china-resources.net/mincmemb/history.html


"honorary Negro"

I've done some quick searches on the phrase and cannot seem to find a definition, although from what I gather it's a somewhat derogatory term for someone (presumably caucasian) who adopts the mannerisms, speech, etc. of a person of color for the purpose of appearing "hip."  Can anyone help fine-tune this definition?